Discharge-carrying actuator for aerosol dispenser



June 27, 1967 W R O'DONNELL ETAL DISCHARGECARRYII$G ACTUATOR FOR AEROSOLDISPENSER Filed Oct. 6, 1965 INVENTORS WLULQT I E. ODonniU teven W.Bares United States Patent 3,327,908 DISCHARGE-CARRYING ACTUATOR FORAEROSOL DISPENSER William R. ODonnell, Fairfield, and Steven W. Beres,Trumbull, Conn., assignors to Valve Corporation of America, Bridgeport,C0nn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 6, 1965, Ser. No. 493,426

1 Claim. (Cl. ZZZ-402.24)

This invention relates to Small hand-held aerosol dispensers, and moreparticularly to dispensers of this type which, after assembly of thevalve parts, are pressurefilled through a depressible valve stem.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved aerosoldispenser of the kind indicated, wherein a rapid pressure-fill throughthe valve stem is possible yet upon discharge only a greatly diminishedvolume of high velocity flow of aerosol substance occurs.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved aerosoldispenser in accordance with the foregoing, wherein the initialdiminished high-velocity flow upon discharge is effected within thevalve stem itself, thereby eliminating malfunction which could resultfrom leaky or imperfect fittings disposed beyond the valve stem andoperating under high pressures, etc.

A feature of the invention resides in the provision of an improvedaerosol dispenser actuator as indicated, whereinthe restricting of thedischarge flow within the valve stem is effected by a plug part of thestem actuator or depress button.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of'an improvedaerosol actuator as above characterized, wherein the actuator button hasa small-area, high-velocity discharge channel cooperating with the plugpart of the button, to provide the desired overall flow and velocitycharacteristic of the dispenser.

Other features of the invention reside in the simplicity, compactness,small size and low fabricating cost of the flow-controlling actuatorprovided by the invention.

Still other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, similar character ofreference are used to designate like components throughout the severalviews, in which:

:FIG. 1 is an axial sectional view of an aerosol dispensin'g deviceactuator as provided by the invention, mounted on a dispensingcontainer, only the upper portion of the latter being illustrated'andbeing shown mainly in side elevation.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the actuator button of FIG. 1. t

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan View of the actuator button of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the actuator button of thepreceding figures, and

FIG. 5 is a rear elevational view of the actuator button.

As shown, in FIG. 1, an actuator cap designated generally by the numeralis mounted on a pressurized aerosol container 12, the latter having anannular shoulder 14 which is gripped by the lower rim portion 16 of acylindrical, stationary cap body 18.

The pressurized container 12 has a usual type of valve assemblage (notshown in detail) carried in a central inverted cup-like portion 20 of atop closure member 22.

Extending upward from the valve assemblage in the portion 20 is a hollowdepressible valve stem 24 of usual construction. Components as thus fardescribed are also illustrated and described in Patents Nos. 3,179,310;3,161,330; 3,160,182; and 3,153,497.

It is a usual practice, in pressure-filling containers like thecontainer 12, to apply a filling nozzle to the valve stem 24 (with theactuator assemblage 10 not in place) and to inject the pressurizedaerosol substance through the passage or bore of the valve stem. Underfairly high pressures, a satisfactory relatively quick filling of thecontainer '12 may be effected by thus passing the substance through thebore of the stem 24. While the bore is of relatively small diameter, itis large as compared with the diameter of orifice pieces such as thepiece 25 carried by the actuator 10 and which produce the fine spray ormist comprising a low volume, relatively high velocity of the aerosolsubstance.

For general all around use, the restriction of the discharge passagerepresented by the small opening 40 of the orifice piece 25 issatisfactory. However, under certain conditions it is desired that arestriction of the flow be had ahead of the orifice piece or thelocation where the orifice piece is usually located, on the actuatorbutton. As another example, if instead of the orifice piece 25 anextension hose is secured to the actuator button for the discharge ofaerosol substance, it may be desirable to effect a restriction of theflow ahead of the extension hose. Other conditions might also warrantsuch restriction of the flow, reducing the volume of aerosol substancewhile maintaining an effective high velocity of flow where appreciablepressures exist in the container and where the aerosol substance is ofvery low viscosity.

In accordance with the present invention an improved and particularlysimple and inexpensive means is provided by which a restriction of theflow of aerosol substance is effected essentially Within the valveactuator stem 24 itself, thereby acting on one of the salient parts ofthe valve assemblage, i.e. the hollow discharge ,valve stem, and alsoeliminating may joints or pieces beyond the stem which might malfunction(in the discharge passage system of the depress button or actuator) uponbeing subjected to high pressures.

As seen in FIG. 1, the actuator assemblage 10 comprises also avertically movable depress button 26 which is carried in the cylindricalbody 18 and guided thereby, said button having a central hollowdepending boss 28 which frictionally fits over the upper end of thevalve stem 24 and makes a pressure-tight fit therewith. By theinvention, the depress button 26 also has as part of it aflow-restricting plug 30 disposed within the depending boss 28 andadapted to be received within the bore of the top portion of the valvestem 24 and also to frictionally fit therein and make a substantiallypressure-tight connection thereto.

The flow-restricting plug 30 has a vertical groove 32 in its one side,said groove being of relatively small cross sectional area as comparedwith the bore of the valve stem 24. The depress button 26 also has alateral discharge passage 34 which communicates with the side groove 32of the plug 30 and with the bore of the hollow boss 28.

Further, in accordance with the invention, an addi tionalflow-restricting and controlling plug 36 is provided in the lateralpassage 34 of the button, said plug 36 having a horizontally extendinggroove 38 along its bottom surface. The groove 38 in the plug 36communicates with the discharge passage 34 and thus with the bore of theboss 28 and the side groove 32 of the plug 30.

The depress button 26 has a sloping finger-engageable top face 42 asshown, together with a cylindrical side wall 44 which bears in the body18 and is guided thereby, the latter having a vertically extended slot46 to clear the discharge member or orifice piece 25 of the button. Itwill be noted that the orifice piece 25 is inserted in the passage 34 ofthe depress button 26 with a friction fit, and that the inner end of theorifice piece 25 terminates at an appreciable distance from the innerend of the passage 34, so as to provide a distribution chamber 34abetween said inner ends.

It will be understood that with the parts in the positions shown in FIG,1 no discharge of the aerosol substance occurs because the valve stem 24is in its raised, closed position. However, when the button 26 isdepressed or forced downward, it will shift the valve stem 24 downwardto the open position, whereupon aerosol substance will pass upwardthrough the bore of the valve stem, upward through the limiting sidegroove 32 of the plug 30, and thence horizontally through the groove 38of the plug 36 and through the discharge orifice 40 in the orifice piece25. Since the valve stem 24 is spring-urged upward, removal of operatingforce from the depress button 26 will result in the latter returning toits raised, non-discharging position.

It will now be understood that we have provided a novel andadvantageous, particularly simple and low-cost means which is disposedwithin the depressible valve stem 24, for restricting the flow ofaerosol substance to a small volume at relatively high velocities, byvirtue of the provision of the slotted or grooved plug 30, and also haveprovided an extension of such restricted passage in the horizontal plug36 having the groove 38. Moreover, the provision of the horizontal plug36 in conjunction with the transverse discharge passage 34 of the buttonstill enables a flexible discharge hose or other discharge member suchas the orifice piece 25 to be securely, quickly attached to the actuatorbutton by a connection which is leakage-free and not apt to malfunction.

The actuator assemblage is seen to be simple, small and compact, andcapable of being molded of plastic substance, at low cost. Thesimplicity and interfitting nature of the connections make fortrouble-free use of the dispenser.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claim,and portions of the improvement may be used without others.

We claim:

An actuator for an aerosol dispenser comprising, in combination:

(a) a depress button having a body portion provided with a top surfacefor engagement by a finger to shift the button downward,

(b) said button having a depending, central hollow boss provided with avertical bore a portion of which is adapted to frictionally receive theupstanding hollow valve stem of the aerosol dispenser, and having alateral discharge passage which is of a length greatly in excess of thelength of said vertical bore and which includes a large-volume outerportion and a small-volume inner portion, said inner portion beingcoplanar and communicating directly with the bore of the boss to receiveaerosol substance therefrom,

(c) said button having a vertical plug portion in the bore of the boss,for insertion in the bore of the valve stem to limit free flow ofaerosol substance therethrough,

(d) said plug portion having a side groove constituting part of the boreof the boss and communicating directly with both said small-volumeportion of the lateral passage and the bore of the valve stem,

(e) the area of said side groove being a determiner of the rate of flowof the aerosol substance,

(f) said valve stem having a close frictional fit with the bore of thehollow boss and with said plug,

(g) a lateral plug in the large-volume portion of said lateral adischarge passage to control the flow of aerosol substance therethrough,

(h) said lateral plug having a side groove consttiuting part of saidlarge-volume portion of the lateral discharge passage and communicatingdirectly with the small-volume portion of the lateral discharge passagewhich communicates directly with the side groove of the first-mentionedplug,

(i) the area of the side groove of the lateral plug being a determinerof the rate of flow of the aerosol substance,

(j) a tubular discharge member disposed in said lateral passage,

(k) said discharge member surrounding said lateral plug and the sidegroove thereof,

(1) said tubular discharge member having a close frictional fit with thelateral discharge passage and being spaced from the lateral plug aroundthe circumference of the latter, thereby providing an annulardistribtuion chamber for the discharging substance within the dischargemember,

(m) said discharging substance which passes through the side groove ofthe vertical plug and the smallvolume portion of the lateral dischargepassage comprising a single undivided stream prior to introduction intosaid annular distribution chamber.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,802,490 8/1957 Ward 141-203,095,127 6/1963 Green 222-394 3,146,922 9/1964 Tuttle 239-579 X3,150,803 9/1964 Green 222-394 3,153,497 10/1964 Sagarin 222-3943,174,692 3/1965 Green 239-337 3,209,751 10/1965 Wakeman 222-394 X3,223,287 12/1965 Sagarin 222-394 X 5. RAPHAEL-M. LUPO, PrimaryExaminer.

